A Simple Guide to Dementia, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions

This book describes Dementia, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

Dementia is not a specific disorder but is rather a broad term for the impaired ability to think, remember or make decisions that affects every day activities.

Alzheimer's disease is the most frequent cause of dementia, responsible for 60-80% of dementia cases.

Alzheimer’s is a specific disorder.

Dementia is not.

Learning about the two terms and the difference between them is important and can empower people living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, their families and their caregivers with necessary knowledge.

While dementia mostly involves older adults, it is not a part of normal aging.

Normal aging may involve weakening muscles and bones, stiffening of arteries and vessels, and some age-related memory alterations that may show as:
1. Occasionally misplacing car keys
2. Struggling to search for a word but remembering it later
3. Forgetting the name of an acquaintance
4. Forgetting the most recent events

Normally, knowledge and incidents built over years, old memories and language would stay intact.

Dementia is a term used for deterioration in mental ability severe enough to disrupt daily life.

Dementia depicts a group of symptoms linked with deterioration in memory, reasoning or other thinking skills.

Many different types of dementia are present and many disorders cause it.

Mixed dementia is a disorder in which brain changes of more than one type of dementia happen simultaneously.

It is caused by injury to brain cells that involve their ability to communicate, which can affect thinking, behavior and feelings.

Irreversible Dementias
Alzheimer's disease
Vascular dementia
Lewy body dementia
Frontotemporal dementia
Mixed dementia
Huntington's disease
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Parkinson's disease

Reversible Dementias
Delirium
Endocrine Diseases
Metabolic Diseases
Emotional Disease (depression)
Nutritional deficiencies, Normal-pressure hydrocephalus
Trauma and Tumor
Infections and immune disorders
Adverse side effects of medicines

People with dementia can have disorders with:
Memory
Attention
Communication
Reasoning, judgment, and problem solving
Visual perception beyond typical age-related changes in vision

Signs that may indicate dementia are:
Getting lost in a familiar neighborhood
Using unusual words to indicate familiar objects
Forgetting the name of a known family member or friend
Forgetting old memories

To diagnose the cause of the dementia, the doctor must identify the pattern of the loss of skills and function and determine what a person is still capable of doing.

More recently, biomarkers have become accessible to determine a more accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

No single test can diagnose dementia, so doctors tend likely to do a number of tests that can help locate the problem.

Presently, no cure is available for any of the causes of irreversible dementia.

The treatment of dementia is dependent on the underlying cause.

Neurodegenerative dementias, like Alzheimer’s disease, have no cure, even though there are medicines that can help protect the brain or treat symptoms such as behavior changes:
Cholinesterase inhibitors
Memantine

A healthy lifestyle, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, maintaining social contacts, reduces chances of developing chronic diseases and reduce number of people with dementia.

Non-drug Therapies may help:
Occupational therapy
Modifying the environment
Simplifying tasks

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Dementia
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Vascular Dementia
Chapter 8 Alzheimer’s Disease
Epilogue